Q&A: Limpeh's post election follow up

Hi everyone! What an election we have had in the UK, with so much said about the surprising victory that the Tories and the SNP have had and the way Labour totally disintegrated in the polls. Allow me to do a Q&A today with regards to some of my observations and these are based on questions I have been asked by my friends on Facebook.

1. Are you happy with the results? 

Yes and no, the situation is somewhat complex: I am happy with some things and not others. Such is the democratic process, the votes reflect the will of the people and unless you wish to stage a revolution or have a military coup now, that is the government we are stuck with for the next five years, so let's get on with life. Many people are going on and on about the £12 billion promised in welfare cuts that this government is going to implement in terms of austerity measures and I actually think that it is a good thing - I work for a living, I don't sit around and sponge off the state and I think that it is immoral for people to do so; hence cutting the welfare state is actually a bloody good thing that the Tories are going to be very good at. This is the only way they are going to balance the books and I do trust the Tories with the economy. Labour would have just gone on a spending spree and bankrupt the country, so I am pleased that Labour did lose. The Tories will also be cracking down on strikes - which is a very good thing and I'm overjoyed.

I was disappointed that the Liberal Democrats did so badly, I am a Lib Dems voter and I still adore Nick Clegg, the now ex-leader of the Lib Dems and now soon to be ex-deputy prime minister. It will be a very long process of recovery for the Lib Dems after such a poor result, but I still support them. I am also aghast at the way UKIP, the right wing anti-immigration party getting the third largest share of the vote, but I am kinda relieved at the way they still only managed to get one MP into government despite getting so many votes. The voter turn out was still pretty low - so if people weren't happy with the results, they should have made a greater efforts to encourage their friends and family to vote rather than bitch about not getting the results they wanted later. It's too late now, you can't change the results after the polling stations have closed - let that be a lessons learnt!

2. Are you friends happy with the results? 

It depends on whom you're asking. My right wing friends who support the Tory are clearly delighted with the results whilst my left wing friends are furious and even in denial - some even talk about joining the demonstrations and protests against the results of the elections and I'm like, get real and grow up. That's a stupid and childish response because the democratic process has taken place and these are the results whether you like it or not. Even if we re-run the elections tomorrow, Labour is still going to lose because they had clearly isolated a lot of their supporters who have deserted them for either SNP or UKIP. Such is the nature of living in a democratic country and sometimes you do not get the results you want and tough shit, you just have to live with it. Tell me about it, I am from Singapore!

3. What about gay rights issues - do you think this new government will do better? 

 I am very pleased about the fact that the UK now has more gay and lesbian MPs than any other country in the world - these include 13 from Labour, 12 from Tory and 2 from the SNP, so it is good to see the three main parties proudly fielding openly gay candidates who can win in an election. It does also show that the general public have come a very long way in terms of embracing openly gay politicians - the UK elected her first openly gay MP in 1997, others have come out whilst in office after they were elected, but Stephen Twigg was the first to be openly gay during his election campaign and win. To go from just one to 27 in 18 years is a huge achievement and says a lot about how progressive and gay-friendly British society has become. That is great news - so I am optimistic that we will make good progress in terms of gay rights with this new government.

4. How do you feel about Alan Mak, the first British-Chinese MP elected? 

Well, if I may quote Alan Mak on the issue, "This is modern Britain. Having a Chinese-looking person stand for parliament and becoming an MP is not a story. It's no big deal." I would not vote for someone just because s/he has the same skin colour as me, I would only vote for someone if s/he has the same values as me and has won my confidence and trust. It is also good to know that the voters in Harvant (where Alan Mak won) didn't feel that his skin colour was an issue and gladly voted for him - and of course, skin colour shouldn't be an issue in modern Britain. I get so pissed off when people focus on my skin colour rather than get to know me as a unique individual. I would like to think that this shows that we are moving towards a colour blind society. Would I have voted for Mak? Actually no, he is a Tory politician - I always vote for the Liberal Democrats, skin colour has absolutely nothing to do with my choice!

5. Is there anything that worries you about this new government? 

Well yes, the EU is one big issue for us right now - if David Cameron cannot renegotiate a new deal for our relationship with the EU, then he will be forced to keep his promise to offer the UK an in-out referendum on the EU by 2017. I am skeptical that Cameron will get anything from the EU and he would be forced to hold this referendum in 2017 as promised. How will the UK public vote? I want the UK to stay in the EU but I am a bit worried about the way this has got to be put to a public vote, through a referendum like that. Those who want to leave the EU are under the impression that Eastern Europeans are taking jobs away from local British people, but even if you kick out all the Eastern Europeans, you'll soon realize that the local British people simply are neither willing nor able to do those jobs and we would be so screwed as a country without our Eastern European migrant workers.

6. Were you shocked by the result, given how the pollsters got it so wrong?

Yes like everyone else, I was somewhat shocked by how wrong they were, but I always treat such opinion polls with a pinch of salt because they can never interview everyone who is a voter. They are limited by their sample sizes and they can at best give an indication as to what one may expect, sometimes they are right and sometimes they get it wrong. I think it does make elections a little bit more exciting, because if everyone thought "oh those are the results we are going to get" even before a single vote was cast, then people may not even bother to vote. But this election does shows us that anything can happen, so we shouldn't take anything for granted and we should always, always go out and vote on election day. Hence by that token, I hope this will encourage more people to vote in the future.

7. What was the role of the social media in this election?

So much was made about the way politicians were trying to engage with voters through social media - Ed Milliband even did an interview with Russell Brand just to try to boost his popularity with younger voters. But at the end of the day, whilst the technology has changed the way people get information all about the election, I think it actually has very little impact on the way we vote. I am highly unlikely to change my mind just because of a tweet from a candidate or because I saw a Facebook post - I have long decided which party I support by seeing which party best matches my personal ethos and values. That's the process most people go through to decide which party they want to vote for - they're not easily swayed by what they consume on social media; rather, their choice of what they consume on social media is conditioned by their political views.

8. What do you make of the SNP's stunning success in Scotland?

Well I had expected them to do well, but taking 56 out of 59 of the seats is just incredible. They are a very left wing, anti-austerity party and one predicts that David Cameron is going to give them even more powers over their own internal affairs. It is in the Tories' interest to keep the SNP in power as that is what wiped Labour out this time round, so I suspect that the SNP are going to have a pretty okay relationship with the Tories in this parliament. I monitor what is happening with some interest, but at the end of the day, you do realize I live closer to France and Belgium than to Scotland, so whatever happens in Scotland does feel quite remote for me, here in London. Though stories like those of Mhairi Black are of course very interesting - so yes, I am definitely keeping an eye on what is happening in Scotland.

Mhairi Black of the SNP

9. What do you think will happen to Labour, after this crushing defeat, their worst result in 20 years?

That's a good question and one we can't answer yet - not at least before they have chosen a new leader. They have to rethink their strategy to try to recapture the trust of voters who have deserted them if they ever want a chance of winning the next election, but so much of what happens next will depend on what kind of leader they will elect to replace Milliband. I think Chuka Umunna is an interesting choice  and would make a credible leader - he has been dubbed the next Barrack Obama because he is charming and half-black, but we'll see: few people had expected Ed Milliband to win the leadership for the labour party when Gordon Brown left, so let's just wait and see for now. Some left wing extremists are moaning about how Labour is not left wing enough - they won't be satisfied till Labour is led by a homeless crack whore bisexual single mother: did I mention that the left wing extremists here are as loony as the right wing extremists? Such is the full spectrum of different political opinions here in the UK.

10. So what next?

Nothing. People are still bitching about the election results online but give it a week or two and people would soon settle back into their everyday routines. They will find something else to concern themselves about - like some football tournament, the Eurovision song contest or some new scandal in the headlines to occupy their attention. No there will not be any revolution, life will go on as before and guess what? It wouldn't be bad because the global economy is recovering from this long recession and that will be the biggest factor that will contribute to the growth of the British economy over the next five years. So unless another major recession hits the world economy within the next five years, we're probably going to be pretty alright. Life goes on, the Tories aren't as bad as some of these left-wing extremists make them out to be. You can't blame the government for everything that goes wrong with your life - it is time to take some responsibility for your own predicament. That last statement probably makes me sound rather right-wing, which is probably why I am feeling pretty okay about having a Conservative government for the next five years.